


The world in your hands

by Land_of_Domes



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Fluff, Meet the Family, Secret Santa, convenient failing heaters, getting togeter, trip to the winter house
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:14:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21798205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Land_of_Domes/pseuds/Land_of_Domes
Summary: Circumstances force Éponine to accompany Cosette and her father to their annual christmas trip. You kow how it goes.
Relationships: Cosette Fauchelevent/Éponine Thénardier
Kudos: 1
Collections: Les Mis Holiday Exchange (2019)





	The world in your hands

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eleuia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eleuia/gifts).

> Merry christmas (if you celebrate)! I hope you like this, more chapters are being added.

"No no that can't be true..." She stared at her flatmate in horror. Now that finals were finally over, and the only left-over work she had she could do from home, she had looked forward to wrapping herself up in ten different blankets and waiting for the winter to end.

"Maybe I can ask the boys to cuddle up and we put another matress in Enjolras' room." Grantaire looked at her with doubting eyes, well aware that sleeping in a tiny flat with 6 other guys was not exactly her idea of a peaceful winterbreak. One hour ago her flatmate had barged into the living room, cursing their landlord who couldn't manage to get their heating system fixed without having to evacuate the whole building for two weeks. And that right before christmas. The number of friends that were willing to let her stay at their place over christmas she could count on one hand. On two fingers actually. And since Grantaire had a guaranteed spot in his boyfriends bed and all of the boys in the chaos flat had invited their friends and lovers in return to spend the holidays in the big city they were packed together like sardines in a tin can. But really there was no way she could find a hotel room that close to christmas in Paris with her meagre savings. It just wasn't realistic.

"No thank you... I guess I'll have to swallow my pride and ask my parents."

"Oh no you can't do that!"

But she had. The results were as expected, her father laughing in her face and her mother putting on that sweet smile and asking if she already stayed for free why not at least start helping with the family bussiness again. She already made peace with getting her personal space invaded by the unchangeable surprise cuddler Courfeyrac when help came from an unexpected source. 

Although she had immediately thought to ask Cosette she had quickly corrected herself. Her friend still lived with her stepfather and although she only met him once over a grainy computer screen when Cosette had skyped with him when he was on a bussiness trip, she just knew that he wasn't her biggest fan. Still she had carefully brought the topic up, hoping that maybe one of the friends of the popular blonde might be willing to take her in when she was promptly invited to join the family trip. Of course she protested, family trips were for family after all, but when Cosette kept teling her how much fun they were going to have together with sparkling eyes and immediately called her father to inform him, it had been hard to say no. Especially since she didn't particulary want to. Although Cosettes father scared her quite a bit the thought of neither having to freeze to death in her apartment, being way too close with the annoyingly cutesy couples in the chaos flatshare and foregoing dignity while crashing at her parents place made her dizzy with happiness. 

So still in a good mood she and Grantaire had began to pack for their respective stays outside of their already terribly cold apartment. Cosette and her father would pick her up in a few hours and they would drive straight to their holiday home in the country. So she busied herself until Cosette had texted her to come downstairs. Éponine had always known that the other girl was quite well off but when she saw the gigantic car parked in front of her apartment complex she had to gulp down her anxiety. 

A blonde ball of sunshine wrapped up in a gigantic pale pink scarf threw herself in to her arms and Éponine almost lost her balance from the forceful embrace her friend put her in. Blue, sparkling eyes looked up at her and as always she was filled with warmth by the thought that her friend was being that happy to see her.

"Éponine, you look half frozen to death already! Do you have everything? Quick, get in the car!" Cosette said quickly and wrestled her bag away from her to throw it into the boot. The brunette made a tentative step towards the back door when her friend stopped her.

"Nooo you have to sit in the front. We have to many bags so only one person can sit in the back and your legs are way longer than mine." Her heart beat heavily when she opened the passenger door and climbed inside before turning a bit to greet Cosettes father. She didn't know what she expected but certainly not the still rather fit looking man with the serious mouth. And yet... there was a certain kindness apparent in his eyes, a touch of humour on his face that instantly soothed her anxiety a bit and she was able to introduce herself without embarassing herself. 

"And I also wanted to thank you so much for allowing me to go with you on this trip. I know that it's a family thing but I really wouldn't have known what to do otherwise." She fiddled with the seating belt a bit before she managed to properly put it on and she looked at him again. Like heavy clouds drifting away from the sun a smile started to form on that serious face when he started the car. 

"I don't think Cosette would have been very happy with me had we left you here. But I could already hear on the phone that she gave you quite the speech as well." He said and started to drive.

"Besides, we couldn't let you feeze there, huh? It'll be good for her to have friend with her this year as well since I fear that work will follow me there, although I tried my best to leave it in Paris." He sighed and adjusted his mirror. 

"Oh yes! Cosette told me that you're that you have your own firm. It can't be easy to be responsible for all these people and make such big decisions almost daily." 

"No more than being responsible for the growing and developement of children, wouldn't you say?" 

She blushed. Many of her former classmates already had grand plans when they graduated but when she finished school she had no other thoughts than that she needed a stable occupation that would keep her relatively comfortable for the rest of her days and never make her fear for her integrity or morals. So she had drifted a bit, worked in different places while she thought about what she actually wanted to do now that she was no longer under the control of her parents. She quickly noticed her affinity with children and thought about how she only had wanted a bit of understanding from her teachers in school and decided that she could be what she had desperately wished for for these still faceless future children. 

"Éponine is going to be a great teacher! You know she has been helping me with statistics and She is always so patient with me, it really makes me feel at ease." Cosette beamed at her from the backseat. The brunette recalled their first meeting. Marius, another inhabitant of the chaos flat, had asked her if she was interested in tutoring his friend in math. That many had already tried and failed since his friend already had settled in her mind that she would never be able to do this and that she was a total failure. Of course she had agreed, she needed all the money she could get, and set up their first session right after. She noticed her error when she stepped into the gigantic mansion and saw that gorgeous blonde that smiled at her in a lovely carefree way. She was immediately charmed by the girl and proceeded to do everything in her power to help the other with her calculations. Soon she was not only deeply attracted to her but had also gained a loyal friend. And if she was infatuated with her... that was her problem and not Cosettes. 

"It's amazing you didn't turn around on the spot when you saw her notebook." Cosette made a sound like a squawk in the backseat and Éponine chuckled. The blondes habit of filling all her notes with doodles and scribbles and random stickers had stunned Éponine who was used to meticulously taking and organising all her notes, and had made her not quite at confident in the other girls abilities at first. Once they had worked away at Cosettes deep seated frustrations a quick minded and witty individual started to come out. That was when Éponine knew she was in deep shit since she knew there was no way Cosette would ever reciprocate her feelings. 

Thinking how she would never be anything but a good friend to the blonde actually made her feel more at ease and she spent the drive talking with Jean (after an hour he had caved and told her to call him by his first name) and Cosette who kept leaning forward to talk with her and petted her shoulder whenever she could reach it. She had asked Jean once if he didn't want one of them to drive so he could rest a bit but he had only laughed and said that after certain events, while teaching Cosette how to drive, he would never allow someone else in the drivers seat again. They had managed to quickly leave Paris and eventually, after driving on sheer endless seeming highways next to barren fields where plants once resided, arrived at an insanely cute village. 

"We're close to the house!" Cosette almost yelled into her ear and excitedly leaned forward. 

"We should be there in about an hour, I hope." Valjean said in a calm voice and Éponine smiled and gently pressed on Cosettes head so that she would fall back. 

"I don't think I've ever been in such a small town," Éponine said and looked at the people that were severely covered up, going about their daily life. She guessed that it was quite a bit colder here than in Paris, the town also being closer to the mountains and all. She smiled. Even if this trip might be hell on her nerves, she would get to see a different part of the world she had never seen before instead of freezing to death in her apartment.

"Just wait till we're at the house, Ponine, we're gonna have a blast!"


End file.
